Cloud and Hosting14.01.2015

Inside Hetzner’s new data centre

By Staff Writer

Data centres are one of the core building blocks of the Internet. This is where most websites are hosted, where banking systems reside, and where some telecoms operators have their core networks.

Data centres are among the best-built and most secure facilities in any country. These facilities typically have fully redundant subsystems like cooling, power, and network links, and compartmentalized security zones with biometric access controls.

South Africa has the best data centres on the continent, with some facilities holding their own against the top hosting facilities globally.

Here are some photos of how a data centre is built, and what it looks like after completion.

Hetzner’s data centre in Midrand

In 2013 Hetzner constructed its first data centre in Samrand, Gauteng. The design is based on Hetzner’s German-engineered data centre structure and technology.

The facility is 2,000 square meters in size, with a hosting capacity of 1,200 square meters. The facility makes use of free cooling, reducing Hetzner’s energy consumption and carbon footprint.

The Hetzner DC is served by dual “A & B” power feeds with redundant backup power. It is also connected via multiple tier-1 upstream network providers, allowing it to failover to an alternative network in the event of a serious network outage.

Hetzner’s Samrand Data Centre Park has the capacity to house five standalone data centres, which will exceed R500-million in value once all phases are complete.

The following photos show how Hetzner’s first data centre grew from a drawing to one of South Africa’s top hosting facilities.